In 2017, 500.000 hectares of native forest were destroyed by fires in Portugal. The biggest disaster of its kind in the country’s history. Rock in Rio, a brand that has as its moto “For a better world” and that wishes to transform the planet with music, entertainment, social/environmental/cultural causes, couldn’t just watch what happened in Portugal without taking any action. In Brazil, Rock in Rio already has the Amazonia Live project, which aimed to replant 4 million trees. With this background, helping Portugal was the brand’s natural course of action.

Using burnt wood collected from the forest itself, we called one of the biggest luthiers in Europe, Antonio Pinto Carvalho, to build three guitars. These guitars were auctioned during Rock in Rio Lisbon, using the festival as media for our message, raising money to reforest the affected area.

With the guitars as symbols, we created the “It’s all connected” movement. Musicians, writers, actors, artists in general and other celebrities were invited to participate. A song called “Respirar” ("To Breath") was written specially for the movement and the video clip made a huge impact on social media. We made this to create awareness and desire, so the auction wouldn’t go unnoticed.

With the success of the “Respirar” song, the three artists signed the three guitars and Rock in Rio auctioned them online. Also, during the festival, wristbands to help the forest were sold for 1 euro each. Other guitars were also signed by international names and auctioned. Each one of the personalities that were participating of the It’s All Connected movement posted online content about the cause, the three guitars and the importance of the forest for all Portuguese people.

860.000 impressions online. That’s about 14,5% of Portugal’s internet. 30.000 euros were raised with the guitars’ auction. After some research, we found out that applying all this money to reforest the affected areas wouldn’t be so effective as the idea suggests. So, part of the money will be destined to education programs for people that live near the forest. Preventing the main causes of the fires, which are negligence and human action. The other part of the money will reforest 300.000 squared meters of what was once one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world.